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Should Dublin ban Burqas and Hijabs?

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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Grayson wrote: »
    What is wrong with you?

    People who want to force a woman to wear a burka or force her not to wear it don't care what that woman actually wants. We shouldn't police fashion.

    The difference between that and the 8th is that on one side there were people who wanted to force a woman to continue a pregnancy. there was no-one on the other side forcing her to terminate. If there were I'd say they were assholes too.

    You're at it again. You're not elaborating your point , merely repeating it.


    "La la la la, you don't care whether women should have an option to abort, you just are anti church, you dont give a fcuk about womens rights"

    That's your rationale. See how poor it is. It's abject. If you continue to reason thus, you really need to expand your argument.
    Expressing an opinion on an issue does not necessarily mean you're piggybacking on another, or have a motive. It can but it can't be assumed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Dannyriver wrote: »
    I'm glad I ve enthused you to do some reading, the law and how it's adhered to are 2 very different things , the changes that the UAE are going through are going to take time. The same way that this country moved from being a religious theocracy [where women were treated as second class citizens] in all but name 40 years ago to one now in which the pope is seen as a deviant and women no longer take **** . Double standards have to exist in systems where religion has a say. So I repeat apply for your passport and travel. Parochialism causes fear of others. It's a big big world my friend full of differing perceptions and opinions , and we have more in common as humans than differences. :D If you want any advice on the best places to stay or eat in Dubai or Abu dhabi just DM me I'd be happy to assist in broadening your horizons ...

    Ah the resident sage who assumes no one else on the planet has any first hand knowledge. :rolleyes:

    Again this discussion is not based on your opinions how any specific countries law is applied or otherwise. Though I'll give it to you - the above exhibits a most remarkable skill of reducing a discussion to the most irrelevant details.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Maybe not, but it might improve integration.
    I cant see it having long term adverse consequences.
    There's no stats on what percentage are forced to wear one, but based on worldwide events, one can assume some are forced to wear it. How would a ban not be of benifet to these?
    Maybe their menfolk would not allow them out. True. Could this go on forever?
    Doing shopping themselves or Tesco delivery...
    School runs...
    Gardening...
    Sports days...
    Leisure activities...

    Might last a few months I reckon. They have to accept their ideology isnt compatible with where they are. Maybe girls might grow up seeing society sees them as women, not identity less "post boxes".

    Do you seriously think a woman in a burka is fully engaged and contributing to society?

    Hijabs are fine if you want to wear it.

    How would it help integration if you tell the ones who wear it out of choice that you feel their choice is wrong and therefore will make it illegal? While at the same time harping on about personal freedoms? Just because they're Muslim women doesn't mean they're all daft enough not to see the hypocrisy there.

    And for those whose families wouldn't allow them out - yes, this could easily go on forever.
    As you said, get stuff delivered or send the children shopping.
    Male family members dropping the kids to school, or opting for home schooling.
    And I'm not really sure why you'd assume that they get to do a lot of sports or leisure activities even now...

    I agree that people who would force women to wear certain items of clothing need to face up to the fact that this is unacceptable here. However, you're not going to achieve that by punishing those women that are already oppressed even further.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,386 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Unfortunately the Burkha issue is Not about Policing Fashion,


    It is about the oppression of women, and the Conditioning of many many generations regarding how they should dress in public IN A MUSLIM COUNTRY.


    Correct me if I am wrong here, But SINCE When was Ireland a Muslim Country???

    It's not a muslim country and we don't force women to wear particular clothes. There have been strains of feminism which think that sexualising women through clothing is bad.
    If they were to try and ban miniskirts because they say it oppresses women I'd be against it too. Neither you, nor I, should be allowed say what a woman wants to wear. It doesn't matter if it's a mormons magic underwear, a burqa, a hijab, a habit or a miniskirt.
    And yers, some of the ideas in islam are bat**** crazy. But so are they in every other religion.

    Since when was Ireland a country that policed women for what they wore? And this thread is about IRELAND (I put in in caps because you like caps). It's about the laws we write and the laws we enforce. We are not saudi and we do not police what women wear. Enforcing laws like saudi which decree what a woman can and cannot wear is going in entirely the wrong direction.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    You're at it again. You're not elaborating your point , merely repeating it.


    "La la la la, you don't care whether women should have an option to abort, you just are anti church, you dont give a fcuk about womens rights"

    That's your rationale. See how poor it is. It's abject. If you continue to reason thus, you really need to expand your argument.
    Expressing an opinion on an issue does not necessarily mean you're piggybacking on another, or have a motive. It can but it can't be assumed.

    Are you really struggling with the concept that forcing a woman to wear a certain item of clothing she doesn't want to wear, and forcing a woman not to wear an item of clothing she does want to wear are two sides of the same coin?

    The only person who should decide on what to wear is the woman herself. Not her possibly backwards family, and not the government. That's what choice is.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭Dannyriver


    Shenshen wrote: »
    How would it help integration if you tell the ones who wear it out of choice that you feel their choice is wrong and therefore will make it illegal? While at the same time harping on about personal freedoms? Just because they're Muslim women doesn't mean they're all daft enough not to see the hypocrisy there.

    And for those whose families wouldn't allow them out - yes, this could easily go on forever.
    As you said, get stuff delivered or send the children shopping.
    Male family members dropping the kids to school, or opting for home schooling.
    And I'm not really sure why you'd assume that they get to do a lot of sports or leisure activities even now...

    I agree that people who would force women to wear certain items of clothing need to face up to the fact that this is unacceptable here. However, you're not going to achieve that by punishing those women that are already oppressed even further.

    This is not about women this is about leaving Muslims know that they are not welcome , it always has been. Those who aren t obsessed with the Burqa tend to look at Muslims as any other citizen who we withhold judgement of until they give us reason not to.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Dannyriver wrote: »
    This is not about women this is about leaving Muslims know that they are not welcome , it always has been.
    Woah now.

    I'm opposed to the niqaab, and i've changed my view on that from having a brother in law from Kuwait, and listening to his experience living in a culture where some women are subject to pretty outrageous discrimination (and his country of birth is comparatively liberal!)

    This isn't an issue with Muslims, the Qura'n doesn't even mention a need to cover the face. It's a cultural issue.

    I have no problem with the Hijab, but covering the face is a genuine problem when it comes to integration. I'm opposed to that, not anti-muslim by a long shot.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Woah now.

    I'm opposed to the niqaab, and i've changed my view on that from having a brother in law from Kuwait, and listening to his experience living in a culture where some women are subject to pretty outrageous discrimination (and his country of birth is comparatively liberal!)

    This isn't an issue with Muslims, the Qura'n doesn't even mention a need to cover the face. It's a cultural issue.

    I have no problem with the Hijab, but covering the face is a genuine problem when it comes to integration. I'm opposed to that, not anti-muslim by a long shot.

    I have a very strong dislike for both niqabs and burqas, for 2 reasons. Humans do communicate a lot via facial expression, far more than they do verbally. To cut yourself off from that is neither very healthy nor is it going to help in any, way, shape or form in any social interaction between yo u and the rest of the world.
    The other reason is that I see such garments as deeply, deeply, misandric. By wearing this, you tell any male you might come across that you consider them little more than animals, complete slaves to their sex drive. Not to be trusted not to try and take advantage of you, should you show so much as a fingernail.

    However, no matter how objectionable I may find it, it's still an item of clothing. And even if it does express the worldview of the wearer, it's simply not my business to tell anyone that they are not allowed to wear something just because I don't like its message.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Shenshen wrote: »
    it's simply not my business to tell anyone that they are not allowed to wear something just because I don't like its message.
    Not you alone, no; but surely it is within the gift of society as a whole to make that judgment?

    After all, we do this with public nudity. If I walk down O'Connell Street in the nip, I'll be promptly arrested, because there are limits placed on human behaviours that are in line with our cultural norms, and these limits arise because the majority of people probably desire them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Not you alone, no; but surely it is within the gift of society as a whole to make that judgment?

    After all, we do this with public nudity. If I walk down O'Connell Street in the nip, I'll be promptly arrested, because there are limits placed on human behaviours that are in line with our cultural norms, and these limits arise because the majority of people probably desire them.

    And I'm equally against that law. I firmly believe that if people want to walk around naked, they should be allowed to do so.


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  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Shenshen wrote: »
    And I'm equally against that law. I firmly believe that if people want to walk around naked, they should be allowed to do so.
    that's fair enough, but despite your opposition to the law, I assume you don't think there is anything particularly outrageous about society enforcing a cultural norm like requiring clothing?

    Similarly, I can see why a lot of people might oppose a ban on the niqaab, but that's a decision that society ought to be capable of making.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    that's fair enough, but despite your opposition to the law, I assume you don't think there is anything particularly outrageous about society enforcing a cultural norm like requiring clothing?

    I wouldn't call it outrageous. I think I'd call it sad.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I have a very strong dislike for both niqabs and burqas, for 2 reasons. Humans do communicate a lot via facial expression, far more than they do verbally. To cut yourself off from that is neither very healthy nor is it going to help in any, way, shape or form in any social interaction between yo u and the rest of the world.
    The other reason is that I see such garments as deeply, deeply, misandric. By wearing this, you tell any male you might come across that you consider them little more than animals, complete slaves to their sex drive. Not to be trusted not to try and take advantage of you, should you show so much as a fingernail.

    However, no matter how objectionable I may find it, it's still an item of clothing. And even if it does express the worldview of the wearer, it's simply not my business to tell anyone that they are not allowed to wear something just because I don't like its message.


    Amen to this. I feel like saying also mind your own business. Very simply we have choice of our clothing.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭Dannyriver


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I have a very strong dislike for both niqabs and burqas, for 2 reasons. Humans do communicate a lot via facial expression, far more than they do verbally. To cut yourself off from that is neither very healthy nor is it going to help in any, way, shape or form in any social interaction between yo u and the rest of the world.
    The other reason is that I see such garments as deeply, deeply, misandric. By wearing this, you tell any male you might come across that you consider them little more than animals, complete slaves to their sex drive. Not to be trusted not to try and take advantage of you, should you show so much as a fingernail.

    However, no matter how objectionable I may find it, it's still an item of clothing. And even if it does express the worldview of the wearer, it's simply not my business to tell anyone that they are not allowed to wear something just because I don't like its message.

    I agree per se but really it's closer to the truth to say that it's just another horse **** bull **** way that religions use to control women and control sex ...all religions do/have done it. Surprise surprise that all the main originators and protagonists of religion are male. That said like I ve said earlier here telling women what they can and cannot wear would be a retrograde step for a liberal democracy to take in my opinion.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    Are you really struggling with the concept that forcing a woman to wear a certain item of clothing she doesn't want to wear, and forcing a woman not to wear an item of clothing she does want to wear are two sides of the same coin?

    The only person who should decide on what to wear is the woman herself. Not her possibly backwards family, and not the government. That's what choice is.



    I agree in so far as the woman genuinely has choice. Unfortunately, burka is a symbol and a requirement of an ideology that treats women as second class citizens. Deprived of basic rights we take for granted.

    So yes I'm struggling all right, to see how you can't see that a woman might be forced to wear one.

    We already (to a certain extent) prescribe sartorial standards, certainly there's a minimum requirement to avoid indecent exposure

    Condoning a woman wearing a burka, is tacitly condoning any man who has forced "his" woman/women to wear one, and allows the continuing subjugation of women trying to live under such sexist totalitarianism.

    If you can point out examples of women hithertofore "unburka'd", celebrating and excercising their right to "burka up" once an authority prescribes their wearing, there would be merit in considering maybe they're not that bad.
    However, the opposite seems to be the case usually.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Dannyriver wrote: »
    This is not about women this is about leaving Muslims know that they are not welcome , it always has been. Those who aren t obsessed with the Burqa tend to look at Muslims as any other citizen who we withhold judgement of until they give us reason not to.

    Will you cop yourself on with this nonsense. You keep repeating it.It's contributing nothing to the discourse. You're verging on trolling.

    I employ Muslims. I'm friends with Muslims. I'm frequently in Muslims houses, and they in mine.
    This isnt about Muslims. It's about certain Muslims who subscribe to a certain ideology and what it represents.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Dannyriver wrote: »
    I agree per se but really it's closer to the truth to say that it's just another horse **** bull **** way that religions use to control women and control sex ...all religions do/have done it. Surprise surprise that all the main originators and protagonists of religion are male. That said like I ve said earlier here telling women what they can and cannot wear would be a retrograde step for a liberal democracy to take in my opinion.

    And there in lies the issue. It is not liberal democracies telling women what they an or cannot wear - rather it is recognising that the modern Islamist practice of enforcing the veil on women is neither always voluntary nor done without oppression.

    In an article in the Spectator a muslim woman, Qanta Ahmed describes indetail why she supports banning the veil and what it means for her and other women.
    It’s a sign, I think, not of assertive Islam, but of what happens when Islamists are tolerated by a western culture that’s absurdly anxious to avoid offence. This strange, unwitting collaboration between liberals and extremists has been going on for years. But at last there are signs that it is ending... The Islamists wish to say: we Muslims are different from the West. Increasingly, we don’t look like you, or act like you.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/03/the-right-to-ban-the-veil-is-good-news-for-everybody-including-muslims/

    What is interestingis that the more moderate of the Muslim head coverings the Hijāb (of which the Niqab is a variant)  refers not to women's clothing, but rather a spatial partition or curtain. The term can refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women. However of note the term Hijab is also used to refer to the seclusion of women from men in the public sphere.

    In the face of calls from fundamentalist Muslims to allow the practice of seclusion or separation of the sexes in public withinn secular western countries - should we also permit such beliefs dictate that men and women to be seperated so as to not to offend those self same religous sentiments or to facilitate this who 'choose' or are forced to do so?

    I don't think so.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭Dannyriver


    gozunda wrote: »
    And there in lies the issue. It is not liberal democracies telling women what they an or cannot wear - rather it recognising that the modern Islamist practice of enforcing the veil on women is neither always voluntary nor done without oppression.

    In an article in the Spectator a muslim woman, Qanta Ahmed describes indetail why she supports banning the veil and what it means for her and other women.



    What is interestingis that the most moderate of the Muslim head coverings the Hijāb (of which the niqab is a variant)  refers not to women's clothing, but rather a spatial partition or curtain. The term can refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women. However of note the term Hijab is also used to refer to the seclusion of women from men in the public sphere.

    In the face of calls from fundamentalist Muslims to allow the practice of seclusion or separation of the sexes in public withinn secular western countries - should we also permit such beliefs dictate that men and women to be seperated so as to not to offend those self same religous sentiments or to facilitate this who 'chose' or are forced to do so?

    I don't think so.

    Well it would be if there was an outright ban as those that did want to wear them would be denied as has happened everywhere this has been tried. I'm done with the thread at this stage it really is just people repeating themselves [me included by the way] ...all the best


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    If you can point out examples of women hithertofore "unburka'd", celebrating and excercising their right to "burka up" once an authority prescribes their wearing, there would be merit in considering maybe they're not that bad.
    In fairness, there is fairly undisputed evidence of a worsening of the quality of lives of religious women in Iran during the reign of Reza Shah Pavlavi, when he banned the veil, and also prior to the 1979 Revolution, when the veil was publicly eschewed. Women were locked up at home, and avoided going into the street at all. I don't know if that would replicate itself in Ireland however, i'd doubt it.

    The autobiographical novel, Reading Lolita in Tehran, covers the latter pretty well, and the joy of a great many women on the new conservative obligations after the 1979 Revolution.

    I oppose the niqaab, but not on the basis that I can somehow get into the heads of women, and determine them to be in the subjugation of men. I'd oppose it even if it was entirely their free choice. It is simply a barrier to integration.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    I agree in so far as the woman genuinely has choice. Unfortunately, burka is a symbol and a requirement of an ideology that treats women as second class citizens. Deprived of basic rights we take for granted.

    So yes I'm struggling all right, to see how you can't see that a woman might be forced to wear one.

    We already (to a certain extent) prescribe sartorial standards, certainly there's a minimum requirement to avoid indecent exposure

    Condoning a woman wearing a burka, is tacitly condoning any man who has forced "his" woman/women to wear one, and allows the continuing subjugation of women trying to live under such sexist totalitarianism.

    If you can point out examples of women hithertofore "unburka'd", celebrating and excercising their right to "burka up" once an authority prescribes their wearing, there would be merit in considering maybe they're not that bad.
    However, the opposite seems to be the case usually.

    I do believe you've said that before, and I asked before how you think a ban on burqas would do anything at all to help women who are currently forced by their families to wear them?
    If the aim of her family members is to keep her out of sight of strangers, they are not simply going to change their minds on that because there's now a law against the one piece of clothing the woman was allowed to go out in.

    I while I can't imagine why any women would choose to wear a niqab or a burqa, but if they do it's their choice.

    If it's not their choice to wear it, banning it is not going to make life better for them.

    bikini-burkini.png


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Dannyriver wrote: »
    Well it would be if there was an outright ban as those that did want to wear them would be denied as has happened everywhere this has been tried. I'm done with the thread at this stage it really is just people repeating themselves ...all the best

    So a law banning a piece of clothing that not only carries with it issues of gender oppression but also significant potential security implications is untenable because some are against it? Thankfully such reasoning is not a basis for democracy.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    In fairness, there is fairly undisputed evidence of a worsening of the quality of lives of religious women in Iran during the reign of Reza Shah Pavlavi, when he banned the veil, and also prior to the 1979 Revolution, when the veil was publicly eschewed. Women were locked up at home, and avoided going into the street at all. I don't know if that would replicate itself in Ireland however, i'd doubt it.

    The autobiographical novel, Reading Lolita in Tehran, covers the latter pretty well, and the joy of a great many women on the new conservative obligations after the 1979 Revolution.

    I oppose the niqaab, but not on the basis that I can somehow get into the heads of women, and determine them to be in the subjugation of men. I'd oppose it even if it was entirely their free choice. It is simply a barrier to integration.

    Years ago living in Montreal I was friends with a lady from Iran. She wasn't living in Iran when the revolution happened, she was studying abroad, but she was convinced that it was the hostility towards the openly religious during the reign of the Shah that contributed massively to the rise of the Ayatollah regime after he was ousted.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Shenshen wrote: »
    Years ago living in Montreal I was friends with a lady from Iran. She wasn't living in Iran when the revolution happened, she was studying abroad, but she was convinced that it was the hostility towards the openly religious during the reign of the Shah that contributed massively to the rise of the Ayatollah regime after he was ousted.
    That's interesting; I can easily believe it.

    Similarly, I wouldn't be surprised if, in our own history, the Penal laws and discrimination against Roman Catholics during the British occupation of Ireland didn't act to increase the piety of the nation.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    In fairness, there is fairly undisputed evidence of a worsening of the quality of lives of religious women in Iran during the reign of Reza Shah Pavlavi, when he banned the veil, and also prior to the 1979 Revolution, when the veil was publicly eschewed.

    The autobiographical novel, Reading Lolita in Tehran, covers the latter pretty well, and the joy of a great many women on the new conservative obligations after the 1979 Revolution.

    I oppose the niqaab, but not on the basis that I can somehow get into the heads of women, and determine them to be in the subjugation of men. I'd oppose it even if it was entirely their free choice. It is simply a barrier to integration.

    A "worsening of the lives of religious women" or all women?

    So why were they protesting when the Ayotallah prescribed them? One book (must look into!) V 100s of 1000s protesting on the streets ( (from wiki) didnt the author herself reluctantly start wearing it, and eventually left Tehran?)

    It's fair to say some want to wear a burka, some dont. However, some dont seem to appreciate some women are forced to burka up or if they subconciously do, seem to overrule themselves with some liberal principles of not telling women what to wear.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    A "worsening of the lives of religious women" or all women?
    Reza Shah's ban on the veil was seriously unpopular back in the day, I don't have a breakdown of public opinion; those kinds of figures are difficult to ascertain under dictatorships.

    Of course plenty of women favoured western dress under both Shahs, and many in Iran still do.

    But I was under the impression that you asked for "examples of women hithertofore "unburka'd", celebrating and excercising their right to "burka up" once an authority prescribes their wearing", and that certainly did happen in 1979. Are you really saying it doesn't count unless every last woman was celebrating?

    Again -- dictatorships and opinion polls don't tend to go hand in hand. I can't say how many opposed the new religious law; hundreds of thousands, probably. But it did have immense popularity too. Including from women affected.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I do believe you've said that before, and I asked before how you think a ban on burqas would do anything at all to help women who are currently forced by their families to wear them?
    If the aim of her family members is to keep her out of sight of strangers, they are not simply going to change their minds on that because there's now a law against the one piece of clothing the woman was allowed to go out in.

    And I've already answered it!
    I reckon eventually the men will get sick of having to do it all themselves!

    You haven't answered my question (I'll have to check I asked you - apology might be forthcoming...)
    Do you think a woman in a burka is fully engaged participant in society, contributing positively for both herself and society?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    And I'm equally against that law. I firmly believe that if people want to walk around naked, they should be allowed to do so.

    Including male teachers, having their erect bits in front of your girls...Would he be allowed rub his willy, assuming hes allowed rub his arm, after all, it's just flesh...

    If you want to strut nude, remove yourself where its accepted, not where society has established norms for behaviour.

    Please....there's sticking to one's principles (an admirable quality usually) and then theres foolishness.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Reza Shah's ban on the veil was seriously unpopular back in the day, I don't have a breakdown of public opinion; those kinds of figures are difficult to ascertain under dictatorships.

    Of course plenty of women favoured western dress under both Shahs, and many in Iran still do.

    But I was under the impression that you asked for "examples of women hithertofore "unburka'd", celebrating and excercising their right to "burka up" once an authority prescribes their wearing", and that certainly did happen in 1979. Are you really saying it doesn't count unless every last woman was celebrating?

    Again -- dictatorships and opinion polls don't tend to go hand in hand. I can't say how many opposed the new religious law; hundreds of thousands, probably. But it did have immense popularity too. Including from women affected.

    I did, and you've cited a book which (apparently) makes this claim, however the author herself seems to have had issues with the hijab. Not exactly evidence. (Better than a man in the pub told me though!)

    The Shah banned burkas and hijabs though, hence the reaction, it crossed the line into persecution. Personally I dont have an issue with a Muslim wearing a hijab, if they want to demonstrate an aspect of their faith. I'd actually probably be opposed to a hijab ban.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I did, and you've cited a book which (apparently) makes this claim, however the author herself seems to have had issues with the hijab. Not exactly evidence. (Better than a man in the pub told me though!)
    The emboldened bit is kind of the point. Azar Nafisi isn't some apologist for the Islamic revolution, she isn't religious at all and has no reason to invent those claims.

    I would have thought this was all common sense. Of course many women in Iran were delighted with the Revolution and the new codes, particularly in the very beginning.

    Again, I'm opposed to the niqaab myself; but not because i think all (or most) women wearing it are being oppressed; certainly not in Ireland. To say otherwise seems highly presumptuous, condescending, and more than a little disingenuous. I feel like some people take that approach simply for the sake of convenience, so they don't have to justify their deeper problems with Islam.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,160 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    It should be perhaps pointed out that the numbers of women who wear the burqa and niqab - in france and elsewhere - were/are quite small.
    https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/what-is-the-burqa-and-how-many-muslim-women-actually-wear-it/


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    And I've already answered it!
    I reckon eventually the men will get sick of having to do it all themselves!

    You haven't answered my question (I'll have to check I asked you - apology might be forthcoming...)
    Do you think a woman in a burka is fully engaged participant in society, contributing positively for both herself and society?

    What "all"? At the most, they'd be the ones who'll have to bring the kids to school. And even that they can easily avoid doing by claiming the kids are being home-schooled.

    I think I'll have to ask you what you'd consider a "fully engaged participant" in society. And also what you'd consider a positive contribution to society.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,568 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    And I've already answered it!
    I reckon eventually the men will get sick of having to do it all themselves!

    You haven't answered my question (I'll have to check I asked you - apology might be forthcoming...)
    Do you think a woman in a burka is fully engaged participant in society, contributing positively for both herself and society?

    Do you place the same obligation on people with religions other than islam?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Including male teachers, having their erect bits in front of your girls...Would he be allowed rub his willy, assuming hes allowed rub his arm, after all, it's just flesh...

    If you want to strut nude, remove yourself where its accepted, not where society has established norms for behaviour.

    Please....there's sticking to one's principles (an admirable quality usually) and then theres foolishness.

    I love how people here always associate nudity with sexual behaviour. I've been to saunas since I was maybe 6 years of age, my parents would take us camping in nudist colonies in then-Yugoslavia from when I was 10 to when I was 16, yet I was well in my 20s before I saw my first real-life "erect bit".


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Again, I'm opposed to the niqaab myself; but not because i think all (or most) women wearing it are being oppressed; certainly not in Ireland. To say otherwise seems highly presumptuous, condescending, and more than a little disingenuous. I feel like some people take that approach simply for the sake of convenience, so they don't have to justify their deeper problems with Islam.

    I presume that "anti-Muslim" thing wasnt at me?

    (As ive said earlier) It's fair and reasonable to say not all women are forced to wear it. It's equally fair to say however, many are forced to wear it.
    This is neither "presumptuous, condescending, ... (or) disingenuous", and you might refrain from suggestions I've claimed otherwise.


    "Let's just get something straight: the burqa is not Islamic. It is a custom imported from Najd, a region in Saudi Arabia and the power base of its Salafi fundamentalist form of Islam...
    On a final note; it helps to think of this issue from the perspective of the tradition that produced it. In Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and IS-controlled areas women are forced to wear it. Why do you think Saudi women activists have launched this year a campaign with the hash tag the niqab (burqa) does not represent me? They are rejecting this oppression and fighting for their freedom. Think of enslavement as synonymous to burqa, and their marvel will become clear."


    Dr Elham Manea is an Islamic scholar in the department of political science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, a former Swiss government commissioner and author of Women and Sharia Law


    "As a practising (though flawed) Shia Muslim, I watch the new puritans with apprehension. So too other Muslims worldwide, the silent many, watch and tremble. The hijab, jilbab, burqa and niqab are visible signs of this retreat from progressive values.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/20/muslim-woman-veil-hijab


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Do you place the same obligation on people with religions other than islam?

    Answer the question first, and then I'll answer your latest!

    Oops. Replied to wrong person. My bad.
    Same question applies to you.
    I'm not placing any obligations on them. Simple question...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I love how people here always associate nudity with sexual behaviour. I've been to saunas since I was maybe 6 years of age, my parents would take us camping in nudist colonies in then-Yugoslavia from when I was 10 to when I was 16, yet I was well in my 20s before I saw my first real-life "erect bit".

    Deflection like a boss!
    They're not mutually exclusive either.

    This isnt about prudishness. & fair play to your liberal upbringing, where they chose to go to a place where clothing was optional. My kids have seen my bits. That said, I dont flash them about to their friends.

    So would you like your kids teacher teaching them in the nip?
    Chuaigh me
    Chuaigh tù
    chuaigh sé
    ....With his willy waving about?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    What "all"? At the most, they'd be the ones who'll have to bring the kids to school. And even that they can easily avoid doing by claiming the kids are being home-schooled.

    I think I'll have to ask you what you'd consider a "fully engaged participant" in society. And also what you'd consider a positive contribution to society.

    So I'll put you down for a hedged "no"?

    A fully engaged participant I'd regard as someone who can hold a conversation with anyone else in society, irrespective of their sex and martial status, hold down a job should they so wish, who can be regarded as a complete person.in their own right, not an object. Who can enjoy the company of the opposite sex in social, work and leisure settings. Someone who isnt regarded as a second class citizen by the ideology she subscribes to.
    Things like that.

    A positive contribution is one where society enjoys a gain from ones presence, where all of the above occur.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    Shenshen wrote: »
    I agree that people who would force women to wear certain items of clothing need to face up to the fact that this is unacceptable here. However, you're not going to achieve that by punishing those women that are already oppressed even further.


    Allowing that not all are forced to wear a burka, but for the ones who are.
    How do we either engage with these women, or help those who need helping?

    I doubt engaging with the men would work.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,568 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    Answer the question first, and then I'll answer your latest!

    Oops. Replied to wrong person. My bad.
    Same question applies to you.
    I'm not placing any obligations on them. Simple question...

    Of course you are.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,386 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Reza Shah's ban on the veil was seriously unpopular back in the day, I don't have a breakdown of public opinion; those kinds of figures are difficult to ascertain under dictatorships.

    And ataturk did something similar. He sent soldiers into the street who ripped them from women.


    One thing to remember in the context of Ireland is the number of women in europe who wear a burqa. It's a really small amount.
    https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/what-is-the-burqa-and-how-many-muslim-women-actually-wear-it/


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,763 ✭✭✭Sheeps


    It would seem that balaclavas are back in.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,165 ✭✭✭Captain Obvious


    " Do you really consider yourself that different to strict Islamists? "

    This statement says it all really.

    Do we really want to lower our standards to their level?

    Do we really want to permit the instigation of Sharia Law here?

    Because permitting cultural traditions such as Burkha, Hajib, FGM etc this is Exactly what you are doing!!!


    I bet you typed that without a hint of irony. One of the most common arguments made by anti-immigration folks on here is that we would be treated poorly if we went to where the immigrants are from. That is lowering the bar.


    People are talking about fighting Islam by banning foreigners, banning religious practices, controlling what women wear, forcing young kids into cultural education, locking up with extreme ideas. They talk about the savages and animals being imported. How exactly are these ideas different from extreme Islam? Because one is based on a religion and one isn't?


    Let me ask you this. Someone mentioned that women in the west might be forced to wear burkhas or the like by their husbands. So what exactly do you think will happen if you ban a particular item of clothing? Domestic bliss? It's a pointless rule that won't even put a dint in the problem. If a woman is being forced to wear specific clothing by her husband you don't ban the clothes, you provide her a way out of the relationship.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Let me ask you this. Someone mentioned that women in the west might be forced to wear burkhas or the like by their husbands. So what exactly do you think will happen if you ban a particular item of clothing? Domestic bliss? It's a pointless rule that won't even put a dint in the problem. If a woman is being forced to wear specific clothing by her husband you don't ban the clothes, you provide her a way out of the relationship.
    I agreed with your post until I got to this part.



    Yes there is a risk of causing further harm to women, should face-coverings be banned. That simply has to be acknowledged.



    But before we consider how that may be mitigated, we have to ask ourselves whether we really want to appeal to such a low denominator? Is there any other occasion where we appeal to male violence, or tyranny, as a reason NOT to do something? That argument seems to be, at its very core, to be on very shaky ground.



    Secondly, in terms of mitigation, we do live in a very cohesive society where things like segregation (eg primary and secondary education, ghettos, etc) are absolutely negligible. The amount of children who are home-schooled in Ireland is similarly negligible, and they mostly seem to be middle-class white Irish children. I don't foresee any change there. Having children at school not only protects those children from social marginalisation as they grow up (ideally without their faces being covered), it also provides a social outlet for their primary caregiver, usually women.



    I find it hard to envisage the Muslim women of Ireland being locked in their homes in the event of a burqa ban, although there is some risk of that happening, to an extent.



    But again, we don't make laws in order to appease male violence, That's a really, really dodgy path to go down.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,165 ✭✭✭Captain Obvious


    I agreed with your post until I got to this part.



    Yes there is a risk of causing further harm to women, should face-coverings be banned. That simply has to be acknowledged.

    I didn't say there would be a risk of further harm from her husband. In that regard it would be completely ineffective. An extra harm would come from those enforcing the ban on her for her own good.
    But before we consider how that may be mitigated, we have to ask ourselves whether we really want to appeal to such a low denominator? Is there any other occasion where we appeal to male violence, or tyranny, as a reason NOT to do something? That argument seems to be, at its very core, to be on very shaky ground.

    It seems you have missed my point. It won't appeal to the husband. It simply won't change anything. If a person controls what their spouse wears, banning a particular item of clothing won't stop that control. They'll just force them to wear something else. You aren't improving anyones life.
    Secondly, in terms of mitigation, we do live in a very cohesive society where things like segregation (eg primary and secondary education, ghettos, etc) are absolutely negligible. The amount of children who are home-schooled in Ireland is similarly negligible, and they mostly seem to be middle-class white Irish children. I don't foresee any change there. Having children at school not only protects those children from social marginalisation as they grow up (ideally without their faces being covered), it also provides a social outlet for their primary caregiver, usually women.

    We're not talking about regular school though.

    Denmark will force children living in “ghetto” neighbourhoods containing large numbers of migrants to learn about democracy and equality, as well as traditions such as Christmas.


    While the primary focus will be on language skills and learning readiness, the plan also seeks to educate the mainly Muslim children in Danish traditions and Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

    I find it hard to envisage the Muslim women of Ireland being locked in their homes in the event of a burqa ban, although there is some risk of that happening, to an extent.

    No, but they may be locked up if they wear one a burkha outside. At least if Roger and the morality police get their way.
    But again, we don't make laws in order to appease male violence, That's a really, really dodgy path to go down.


    And not something I suggested.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,568 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    The joke about this thread is that the proponents of the ban are trying to present it as if they are doing it for the benefit of women who wear burqas and niqabs. They must think the rest of us are awful thick.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    My big ears are burning...
    No, but they may be locked up if they wear one a burkha outside. At least if Roger and the morality police get their way.

    And not something I suggested.

    Ditto.
    Or a link otherwise


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,555 ✭✭✭Roger Hassenforder


    The joke about this thread is that the proponents of the ban are trying to present it as if they are doing it for the benefit of women who wear burqas and niqabs. They must think the rest of us are awful thick.

    Not this tired "argument" again, ironically thanked by its most frequent proponent in the last few pages (Who also claimed to be "done with the thread").
    Top stuff lads.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 57 ✭✭Samsong


    Only if they also ban police from wearing balaclavas


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,608 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    The joke about this thread is that the proponents of the ban are trying to present it as if they are doing it for the benefit of women who wear burqas and niqabs. They must think the rest of us are awful thick.

    Are they?

    Most seem to view it the same as a person who wears a Swastika T shirt.

    They may be alright people but they are marking themselves as being committed proponents of militant regressivism and adhering to a belief set that is nearly always at odds with basic human rights and dignity.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    So I'll put you down for a hedged "no"?

    A fully engaged participant I'd regard as someone who can hold a conversation with anyone else in society, irrespective of their sex and martial status, hold down a job should they so wish, who can be regarded as a complete person.in their own right, not an object. Who can enjoy the company of the opposite sex in social, work and leisure settings. Someone who isnt regarded as a second class citizen by the ideology she subscribes to.
    Things like that.

    A positive contribution is one where society enjoys a gain from ones presence, where all of the above occur.

    That rules most of us out then!
    Including most old wans like me. All but housebound, living alone.

    I would add someone who does not discriminate or judge another person because their way of life/dress etc is different . Especially when they have no idea what that way of life means. Whose mind and heart are open. To whom "different"is not a threat.

    Raising kids is a huge " contribution to society"

    I lived in a town here where there were families in the same supermarket, the women fully veiled, with their little ones. We chatted easily. Eyes are very expressive.

    Hopefully the next generation will get this right.


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